Washington Post (June 9)
China is now “the world’s leading exporter of automobiles, handily ousting Japan from that position. It is especially strong in electric vehicles. Two of every three EVs made in the world are made in China. As we think about China’s weaknesses these days (and it has several), it is worth remembering China’s formidable strengths and the degree to which it is intertwined into the global economy.”
Tags: Automobiles, China, EVs, Exporter, Formidable, Global economy, Intertwined, Japan, Strengths, Weaknesses, World’s leading
Bloomberg (June 7)
“The Securities and Exchange Commission has fired a major new salvo in Chair Gary Gensler’s war on crypto, declaring illegal two of the world’s largest digital-token trading platforms, Binance and Coinbase. It’s a welcome development: In myriad ways, the two enterprises exemplify what financial intermediaries shouldn’t do. What’s needed now is an actual rulebook.”
Tags: Binance, Chair, Coinbase, Digital-token trading platforms, Financial intermediaries. Rulebook, Gensler, Illegal, SEC, War on crypto
MarketWatch (June 7)
“The Bank of Canada delivered another reminder to U.S. investors Wednesday that pressing ‘pause’ on interest rate hikes doesn’t necessarily mean the monetary tightening cycle is over.” The central bank “surprised traders” by lifting rates a quarter percentage point after a four-month pause. The move came just after the “Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday delivered a second straight rate hike after having ended a short pause of its own.”
Tags: Australia, Bank of Canada, Cycle, Hikes, Investors, Monetary tightening, Pause. Interest rates, Reminder, Reserve Bank, Traders, U.S.
Reuters (June 7)
After beating expectations in Q1, “China’s exports shrank much faster than expected in May while imports extended declines with a grim outlook for global demand, especially from developed markets, raising doubts about the fragile economic recovery.”
Tags: Beating, China, Declines, Developed markets, Doubts, Expectations, Exports, Fragile, Global demand, Grim outlook, Imports, May, Q1
SFGate (June 6)
“A billion dollar company that owned two substantial San Francisco hotels announced June 5 that it’s defaulting on its loan and releasing the hotels from its portfolio.” Park Hotels & Resorts “will immediately stop making payments toward a $725 million loan, slated to mature November 2023.” The REIT cited the “best interest” of its unitholders given “concerns over street conditions; lower return to office than peer cities; and a weaker than expected citywide convention calendar through 2027.”
Tags: $725 million loan, Defaulting, Hotels, Loan, Park Hotels & Resorts, Payments, Portfolio, REIT, Return to office, San Francisco, Street conditions, Unitholders
Financial Times (June 6)
“The world’s trading system needs to ditch its paper trail.” The current global trading system “is suffocating under a mountain of billions of paper documents.” A recent survey “found 35 per cent of UK companies trading internationally say bureaucracy is a barrier to their business overseas. At the same time, 65 per cent said they will remove paper as soon as laws enable them to do so.” Estimates show that removing paper barriers to trade in the Commonwealth alone, “would deliver $1.2tn in economic growth by 2026. It would also reduce trade transaction costs by 80 per cent and enable more SMEs to participate. If combined with customs digitalisation, this number increases to $2tn.”
Tags: $1.2tn, Barrier, Bureaucracy, Commonwealth, Customs digitalization, Economic growth, Global, Laws, Overseas, Paper documents, Suffocating, Trading system, Transaction costs, UK companies
The Economist (June 4)
“For the past two years Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, has pursued a zany policy of trying to bring down inflation by making borrowing cheaper. It is precisely the opposite of what any mainstream economist would advise, and it was never going to work.” His new cabinet “includes Mehmet Simsek, a voice of economic orthodoxy.” The new treasury and finance minister has said “Turkey has no choice left but to return to a rational basis” for policymaking. “Such words will be music to the ears of many foreign investors, who have given up on Turkey over the past couple of years. But they will not count for much unless they are backed up by concrete steps to fix the country’s economy.”
Tags: Borrowing, Cabinet, Cheaper, Economist, Erdogan, Finance Minister, Inflation, Mainstream, Orthodoxy, Policy, Rational, Simsek, Treasury, Turkey
Yahoo Finance (June 2)
“There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding commercial real estate, with all eyes on the office space. From research notes published by the big banks to academic papers, it’s not looking too good for the sector that has been plagued by remote work.”
Tags: Academic papers, Big banks, Commercial real estate, Office space, Remote work, Research notes, Sector, Uncertainty
Commercial Observer (June 1)
“For the illiquid world of private credit — which provides debt for commercial real estate projects -– and that of private equity, the recent upheaval in the U.S. regional banking sector and issues plaguing downtown office space has sparked questions surrounding the type of returns CRE can generate for investors. The primary question being: Is a golden moment possible in the darkest of times?”
Tags: Commercial real estate, Debt, Downtown, Illiquid, Office space, Plaguing, Private credit, Private equity, Regional banking, Returns, U.S., Upheaval
Institutional Investor (May 31)
Last December, “the SEC proposed a set of trading reforms detailing significant changes on vital features such as tick size, the access fee cap, and competition for retail orders.” NASDAQ broadly supports the moves, but worries that “they may not accomplish what the SEC is trying to accomplish” or lead to “unintended consequences that harm liquidity.” Instead, NASDAQ and others believe the SEC “should sequence the proposals rather than do them simultaneously and pause periodically to assess the impacts and determine whether additional reforms are warranted.”
Tags: Access fee cap, Assess, Competition, December, Impacts, Liquidity, Nasdaq, Proposals, Retail orders, SEC, Sequence, Tick size, Trading reforms, Unintended consequences
